This relates generally to flexible electronics, and more particularly, to testing and monitoring the performance of flexible electronics during manufacturing.
Wireless electronic devices such as cellular telephones include numerous electronic and mechanical components. Flexible printed circuits (also referred to as “flex circuits”) and rigid printed circuit boards (rigid PCBs) are commonly used as substrates for these components in wireless devices.
Flex circuits are typically manufactured using roll-to-roll (R2R) processing. Roll-to-roll processing involves patterning electronic circuits on a roll of flexible substrate (e.g., a sheet of polyimide or other flexible polymer sheet).
In an effort to monitor the quality of the circuits that are being formed, token test structures may be included on each roll of flex circuit. These token test structures can be characterized using test equipment.
In some devices, flex circuits are used in forming radio-frequency circuits such as antenna structures and transmission lines.
It would be desirable to be able to provide ways in which to characterize the quality of these structures so that devices that are manufactured using these structures will perform properly.